Dogs as well as humans need a certain amount of activity. But it’s important to find a balance of activity and inactivity, so the dog does not get stressed by under- or over activity. Walking is a great activity, but dogs also need mental stimulation. All dogs need to use Read more…
One of the biggest challenges I faced in my career regarding medical training wasn’t necessarily a blood sample, or putting urination on cue it was conditioning an animal to eat presented medicine. It would be so easy if the animals we take care of would just accept a little pill Read more…
This specific behaviour is a concerning behaviour for us keepers when we see our animals preforming Self Mutilation. But it isn’t a newly found concern, Self Mutilation is happening with animals for a very long time. There are stories known from 1759 where a male opossum was brought to the Read more…
It is very interesting to see how some trainers take actions to behaviour that solves the problem at the moment. What works now works. This means that at that moment in time the problem is solved. The question is will this actually be a solution for the future? Short Term Read more…
In the past years I started to look more and more into how I can create a pattern to build the motivation of the animal to preform a specific behaviour. It might sound complicated but it is not what you think. Without us knowing we create patterns continuously. As we Read more…
I was only 11 years old when my mom asked me what I wanted to do. I saw a flyer from a school with a photo of rabbit on it and thought, you know what I want to work with animals. My mom was surprised because we didn’t have any Read more…
There are many skills a trainer needs to be successful in behaviour modification. This starts with the theory to then apply this in practise. Within the modification strategies on behaviour we learn how to manage a behaviour but do we learn enough about how to start to train a brand Read more…
Animals learn through associating environments which as we know can also be called classical conditioning. When we teach our animals a signal we associate the signal to the behaviour we want the animal to respond to. Because animals are great observers there is a very high chance that the animal Read more…
Training animals has been a passion of mine for such a long time. Practising what I learned from other trainers and from reading books has shaped me to become the trainer I am today. Zoospensefull’s main goal is to share the best practises for the animals we work with. We Read more…
Cover Photo: Libby Eyre We all know that using food reinforcers are highly effective in training our animals. We try to find their “favourite” food sources and heavily use this in our training sessions. All to increase the behaviour we would like to see. When we put this into perspective Read more…
